AMERICAN COUNCIL for the UNITED NATIONS UNIVERSITY

The American Council for the United Nations University is a U.S. non-profit (501)(c)(3) organization that provides a point of contact between Americans and the primary research organ of the UN - the United Nations University (UNU) - which focuses intellectual resources from all nations on world problems. Having scholars on its governing council rather than nations and funding much of its programs through an endowment helps ensure academic autonomy.

 This post-graduate research and training institution does not have professors or students. Instead, the UNU is a world-wide network of scholars whose purpose is to develop options for the solution of problems that require truly international collaboration. Founded in 1973, it commenced operations from its headquarters in Tokyo in 1975 and moved into its permanent heaquarters in 1993 and has become U.N.'s primary instrument for the promotion of international scholarly cooperation. It has:

  1. Established the only truly international network of scholars and programs for food and nutrition and publishes a journal focusing on developing countries. This program sets international food composition research standards and developed the basis for new nutritional standards in protein and caloric requirements, which should lead to improvements in agriculture policy and health. Its program director received the World Food Prize in 1991;
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  2. Established the World Institute for Development Economics Research in Finland, Institute for New Technologies in the Netherlands, International Institute for Software Technology in Macau, and Institute for Natural Resources in Africa located in Ghana with a unit in Zambia, and Biotechnology in Latin America located in Venezuela. Considerable progress has been made in the establishment of UNU Centers on Global Environment and Health, Advanced Studies, Culture and Development, Governance, and Ocean Affairs and Marine Science;
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  3. Initiated the development of a global network of scholars and scientists to formulate and advance the state-of-the-art in human responses to global environmental change;
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  4. Stimulated a rapid increase in Japanese aid commitments by a study of the relationship between Third World development and the Government of Japan's payments surplus, as well as an increase of Japan's pledge for debt reduction by a study on Third World debt reduction. It has also fielded teams in Eastern Europe and Russia for intensive economic and policy studies;
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  5. Created hazards maps of Asian highlands that will contribute to controlling floods such as those that have devastated Bangladesh;
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  6. Produced new knowledge, concepts and fields such as geophysiology and the intergenerational legal principle, as well as producing 300 books and five international journals;and
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  7. Supported 1,100 research fellows from 99 countries at 171institutions around the world, plus another 2000 participants for training in various areas of study.
The AC/UNU is THE non-profit organization (501)(c)(3) that helps support the UNU in the U.S. It: The American Council for the United Nations University invites you to become an Associate Member of the AC/UNU. Associate Members receive UNU annual reports, UNU's Work in Progress, AC/UNU Newsletter, book catalogs, and other UNU documents depending on the interests you indicate.

For further information, please contact Donald Gerth, ACUNU Chair, email: dongerth@csus.edu

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